After days of speculation, the future of Hornets point guard Chris Paul finally seemed to come into focus on Thursday evening, when the framework for three-team a deal that would send Paul to the Lakers was agreed upon.

As if that scenario were not outlandish enough, things soon got weirder. Sporting News confirmed an ESPN.com report that said Paul would not be traded on Thursday night after all, and Yahoo! Sports followed that by noting the reason that Paul would not be traded: Commissioner David Stern called the deal off.

In the proposed deal, the Lakers would have sent Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to New Orleans for Paul. The Rockets would then trade Gasol to Houston for Kevin Martin and Luis Scola, meaning the Hornets would net three decent players, while the Lakers would get a superstar.

That, apparently, was too much for the league’s other owners, who happened to be gathered for the NBA’s Board of Governors meeting, at which they ratified the new collective bargaining agreement. Currently, the league owns the Hornets—the franchise is without an owner after George Shinn’s attempt to sell the team failed.

"It's not true that the owners killed the deal," NBA spokesman Mike Bass told The Associated Press Thursday night. "The deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons."

The league office had vowed to give the Hornets’ front office—general manager Dell Demps and chairman Jac Sperling—the leeway to do what they thought was best for the team. But trading Paul to the Lakers has proven to be more than the league can stomach. At least for now.

Paul is said to be angry about the league's decision and is not expected to report to camp on Friday.